The One and Only
by L Zaza
Summary: A possible beginning for Starbuck and Athena. Warning: This one is schmaltzy.


The One and Only

By Lisa Zaza

Sunlight shining down upon his face, a cool breeze rustling comfortingly through his hair, and the familiar scent of sweetness tantalising his senses, it awakened him in ways he didn't know was possible. Despite knowing from his official records that he was born in Umbra, a small agro community near the Caprican Thorn Forest, Starbuck was surprised at the inexplicable array of emotions and memories that swept over him as he stood there near the berry patch, looking up at the plump, ripe, juicy goodness that he could taste as surely as though he was filling his stomach with spoonfuls of his mother's fresh preserves. He licked his lips, treasuring a long suppressed memory from a time that had come to represent more of a mystery to him, than any real history.

A haunting but bleary image of a beautiful blonde woman drifted into his mind, filling him with an elusive sense of security that he couldn't remember ever experiencing before. Her blue eyes shone like sparkling jewels, and he felt the backs of his eyes prick, and his throat constrict as he tried to concentrate, desperately trying to hold onto a vague memory of a woman that had only ever before visited him in his dreams. Then the image began to blur around the edges, becoming even more diffuse until it disappeared completely, to be replaced by the thorny bushes that stretched metrons above him. His abrupt sense of inexplicable loss left him feeling completely vulnerable. Naked and exposed.

"How do they taste?"

The sound of Apollo's voice stirred him from his reverie. The cadets had come to the Thorn Forest for a training exercise, and Starbuck had been both excited and a little nervous about returning to the place of his birth and very early childhood. Would he remember it at all? Or would it bring back those largely faded nightmares of the Cylon attack that had devastated the community, and killed his parents and so many others? He glanced back at his fellow cadet, trying to cover the fact that he was feeling a little out of sorts. He _knew_ he should have come alone, but Apollo had insisted . . .

"Try one," Starbuck suggested to Apollo, pasting on his trademark grin, before half-closing his eyes and breathing in the heady scent again.

Apollo raised a suspicious eyebrow at his friend, crossing his arms over his chest. "Starbuck, for all your bragging about Wild Thorn Berries, _you_ haven't tried one yet."

"Don't you trust me, Apollo?" Starbuck smiled, before plucking a large, juicy berry from a thorny bush, and popping it into his mouth. The juice burst into his mouth, introducing a sweetness that rekindled memories and sensations that he instinctively knew were all about family, and by extension of that, an elusive link to his past. He closed his eyes, groaning in unadulterated pleasure. A sudden recollection swept into his mind, and he could see it almost as though it was happening before his eyes . . .

_A wiry man climbed high upon the rocks, avoiding the treacherous thorns, trying to reach not only any old berry, but the largest, plumpest, and sweetest for his precious wife._

"_You're going to break your fool neck!" the beautiful blonde shouted up at the man, her hand covering her mouth in horror as she held the hand of her toddler son, who giggled at his father's antics._

"_I see it, Gabrielle!" the man shouted back. "It's the one! The one and only. A berry like that had to be blessed by the Lord Sagan, himself!"_

_"Don't be daft!" she replied, sucking in a breath as he climbed even higher. "If you fall, you're going to land right in the middle of the briar patch!"_

_"I'm not going to fall!" he replied with a reckless laugh. "Nothing but the best for my wife!"_

"Mmm. They're good, Starbuck. Sweet and delicious." A soft voice murmured in his ear.

_Athena._

Over the yahrens, Starbuck had come to know Apollo's siblings well, and he had seen Athena blossom from an awkward and shy teenager into the enchanting, first yahren cadet that stood beside him now. Her long, dark hair flowed back over her shoulders in the breeze, and her sparkling blue eyes seemed to see right through him as he tried to cover for his momentary lapse. He took a deep breath, focussing on Athena and allowing the past to slip back where it belonged. She had turned into a real beauty, with a quick wit, an easy smile, and a sincerity that was somewhat new to him . . . at least in the female persuasion. Of late, he had found himself enjoying her company far too much, considering she was Commander Adama's only daughter, and he was merely one amongst countless nameless orphans. All the same, on such a perfect day, he couldn't help but wonder if the sweetness of her lips could compare to that of the berries.

"Those are just the ones within reach, Athena," he replied to her, pointing above them. "Up there is where the best berries always are."

"A little closer to heaven," she mused with a smile.

"Well, in my experience, a guy doesn't have to _die_ to get to heaven," Starbuck returned with a wistful sigh.

Athena glanced at him thoughtfully.

"Well, a guy would have to be a little crazy to climb up there," Apollo chuckled, plopping a berry into his mouth. "Hey, these _are_ good. So . . ." he mumbled around a few more berries, "Is any of this familiar to you?"

"Yeah," Starbuck replied quietly, as a sense of déjà vu niggled at his mind, while he looked around some more. Was his mind playing tricks on him, or had he actually been here as a youngster? He felt as though he was caught in a whirlwind of emotions, intermingled with images that might or might not be memories. Lords, he had fantasized most of his childhood about where he had come from, and who his people were. Had his fantasies eclipsed reality, or were the flickering images true memories that were finally resurfacing? It left him aching for answers about his family that he knew he would never find.

"Do you think you've been here before, Starbuck?" Athena asked, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked around. "This very spot?"

"Maybe," he conceded. He closed his eyes, again seeing the wiry man climbing the rocks as though they were a naturally placed stairway to epicurean delights. When he opened them again, the same stones seemed to be right before him, although they were slightly overgrown by the briar. "I think so . . ." he inserted, tracking a familiar path with his eyes that his own father had possibly taken yahrens before. He craned his neck as he looked up, seeing the perfect berry.

The one and only.

"Funny, I never pictured you in berry patches as a child," Apollo mused as he stepped aside to let one of the locals go by. The older gentleman nodded pleasantly, before passing by.

"Hard to believe I wasn't raised in a Viper?" Starbuck quipped.

"I was thinking of a chancery, actually," Apollo returned with a teasing smile, as he began to wander away picking a few berries, and obviously enjoying the outing. "Or maybe a grogshop."

Starbuck frowned at his retreating back, the usual witty comeback eluding him. Yeah, he was definitely out of sorts when Apollo could 'one up' him.

"Don't mind him," Athena inserted, touching Starbuck's hand lightly. She was hovering over him in apparent concern, putting him in mind of Ila, her mother. "It must be strange to be back. How does it feel?"

He smiled at her, touched by her support and obvious interest. He thought about how to reply, while picking a berry and offering it to her. She glanced alongside at Apollo, by now metrons away, and then opened her mouth slightly, pointing to it. Starbuck grinned, his surprise surpassed by his pleasure. There was no mistaking that she wanted him to feed her the berry. While it could be interpreted as innocent, there was a certain look in her eyes that turned it into the most erotic interlude he'd ever had with her. In fact, Athena as a sensual adult was something he had to twist his mind around . . . which seemed to take all of a couple microns as her teasing blue eyes locked on his, and she licked her lips in anticipation and invitation. He placed the berry gently between her lips, grinning even more at the devilry in her eyes.

"_Hmm_ . . ." he murmured, completely distracted by her beauty, and this new realization that not only was _he_ attracted to Athena, that evidently_ she _was attracted to him. It filled him with an irrational joy meant more for children during Yule, than for Colonial cadets out on manoeuvres.

She laughed then, the sound lyrical to his ears. "_Starbuck_! How does it feel to be back?" she repeated, her eyes sparkling with delight, and something more . . .

"Oh," he grinned sheepishly. "Not really sure. I guess I feel a bit discombobulated," he admitted, suspecting he was acting like an idiot, instead of a suave lady's man. Strangely, Athena seemed to be enjoying _Starbuck the Idiot_. He squeezed her hand as she smiled at him and licked her lips. "Was it sweet?" he asked.

"Actually," she smiled in wry amusement. "That one was a bit sour."

"Well," he glanced upward, once again spotting 'the one and only'. "I'll have to make it up to you then."

Athena giggled and then reached out to grab his arm when he stepped forward with intent. "No, don't do it. You'll break your neck, Starbuck."

"It's a rite of passage, Athena," he replied with a grin. "Besides, I see it. It's the perfect berry. The one and only. A berry like that had to be blessed by Lord Sagan himself." He reached upward, using a rock outcrop to help pull him up. His feet seemed to find the path instinctively, as though he was following in his father's footsteps. Higher and higher, upward and onward, he kept on going, keeping the plump, round prize in sight as he scaled the hillside of brambles.

"What the frack are you doing? " Apollo called from below. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Possibly," Starbuck rejoined with a grin, but his chest was close to bursting with an inexplicable happiness. It was as though through retracing his father's path, he was somehow bonding with the man who was long dead. He could almost imagine his father observing from the heavens above, smiling down on him and shouting proudly, "That's my boy! Like father, like son!"

"Be careful, Starbuck!" Athena called up to him.

There was no need. He felt invincible. As though his family were watching over him, a guardian angel on each shoulder that would see him safely up, and down again. How many times had he felt this way in his Viper? He'd always thought it was a sense of innate confidence, attributed to his love of flying. Or a young man's inherent belief in his own sense of immortality. Never before had he equated it with his family acting as celestial guardians. Never before had he felt like he had truly found home, if only for a few centons.

Lord suffering Sagan, it was the biggest damned berry he'd ever seen! It was full and firm, shining in the sunlight, offering him the temptation of sweet succulence, ripe for the picking. He stretched forward, clawing at the branch just out of his reach. _Didn't it just figure _. . .

With a deep breath, he leaned forward just a little bit more, standing on the tips of his toes as he tried to close the gap between his fingertips and 'the one and only'. The biggest, the best, and just beyond his reach . . . it was so typical of life in general. Just when he thought he had found his stride, settled into a pattern, there was always something else that would force him to stretch, to reach that much further to get what he wanted, or needed.

_Like Athena . . . _

How long had he squandered his time dating beautiful, empty-headed women, that had flitted in and out of his life? Oh sure, a few had tried to draw him into a long term relationship, but he instinctively sensed that change in a woman that set off his internal klaxons and told him to get out of there, full turbos ahead! More than one woman had informed him that he had 'commitment issues'. They'd conveniently blamed it on his orphan past, rather than admit that somewhere along the way their expectations had changed, while his hadn't.

Maybe it had something to do with this place. Maybe it was the sudden onslaught of memories. Maybe it was just fate. But for the first time in his life he realized that he wanted what his parents had found, before a Cylon strafing run in the dead of the night had ended their joyous union, and their plans for a future with their toddler son.

He glanced down, seeing the siblings' eyes trained on him, as well as a half-dozen locals milling about. He'd drawn a crowd. Athena's lips were parted, her eyes trained on him. He grinned as he balanced precariously on the edge of a precipice as people gasped anxiously far below him. Finally, he reached 'the one and only'. The perfect, luscious berry that surpassed all others. His fingers settled around his goal, and he pulled ever so gently, so as not to bruise perfection. He held it up in triumph.

"Got it!" he exclaimed.

"Atta boy!" a single enthusiastic, male voice called out from below.

Then Starbuck was retracing his footsteps, letting his instinct guide him once again, as he slowly, but steadily descended. He jumped the final metron down to solid ground, where Apollo and Athena awaited him.

"You forgot your Viper," Apollo mumbled, a little irritably, his arms crossed over his chest. Then with a familiar look of resignation, he blew out a breath, slapped Starbuck on the shoulder, and strode back down the path. "Are you ready to go now?" he called back over his shoulder.

"Almost," Starbuck returned, turning to offer the berry to Athena like it was some kind of exotic treasure. He bit his lip as he looked down at his meagre offering, which seemed to pale in importance now that he was back on the ground. It occurred to him it was only . . . a berry. "This is it," he said lamely.

"The one and only?" she smiled slightly as she took the gift from his outstretched hand, holding it gently. "What on Caprica possessed you . . .? If you'd fallen, you would have cracked your skull and landed right in the middle of the briar patch."

"A memory," he replied briefly, realizing the act probably looked foolhardy to anybody except him . . . or his deceased parents. He shrugged slightly while she studied him, seeming to weigh his words, while he shifted from foot to foot. He looked away, uncomfortable beneath her penetrating stare. "I _had_ to do it," he explained. Then he smiled back at her. "Besides, there's not much a guy like me could offer a woman like you . . ." his voice trailed off as the words tumbled out of his mouth unbidden, and his eyes dropped to the ground. By now he was looking like the King of Idiots. From Idiotville. Oh, he could blame this sudden onslaught of romantic sentimentalism on getting swept away by old memories, and unexpected emotions, but in reality, he was behaving like an equine's astrum. Any micron now, Athena would laugh in his face and tell him so.

"Me?" she asked in surprise, touching his face, and gently redirecting his gaze to her. "Are you sure, Starbuck?"

He nodded tentatively, feeling uncharacteristically nervous as those searching blue eyes scanned him with an intensity that stripped down every defensive barrier he had ever erected, until all that was left was a small boy searching for the warm, secure hand that had somehow slipped out of his own, never to return. He drew a rasping breath.

Athena smiled then, popping the berry into her mouth. Her face glowed with enjoyment as she savoured it a moment, then with a clandestine peek down the path at her retreating brother, she tenderly kissed Starbuck.

The soft, tentative kiss might have been Athena's first. For a brief moment, he selfishly wished it was so, as he cupped her face with a hand, caressing the soft skin beneath his fingertips ever so gently. The soft whisper of her breathing made him realize he had closed his eyes, and he smiled at her when he opened them again, tilting his forehead against her, savouring the intimacy.

"It's very sweet," she told him breathlessly a moment later.

"The sweetest ever," he agreed, feeling like he was standing on ovum shells, afraid to move.

"Are we really going to do this?" she asked, her eyes searching his.

"_Lords_, I hope so," he replied fervently.

She smiled, and he abruptly realized that maybe the idea of a family wasn't such a lost cause after all. Two warriors in the Colonial Service, the obstacles to their relationship would be challenging. But if he had truly found his one and only, somehow they'd find a way to make it work. He laced his fingers through hers, raising her hand to his lips and kissing it.

"_Starbuck_!" Apollo's bodiless voice carried back to them from down the trail, reminding his friend—as he had countless times before—that it was time to go.

Together they laughed a little guiltily, and then headed down the path, nodding at the same older gentlemen as they passed by, but he appeared to be lost in thought.

A moment later, the old man's weary eyes flickered over them, idly watching their departure, as memories engulfed him. Every yahren he had returned here to honour the memory of his dearest wife and tiny son. Yet this time, his sense of loss was so severe, it took his breath away. Yes, that young man climbing the cliff, as Chameleon had also done as a younger man, had triggered an emotional miasma. No wonder he had called out in encouragement as the boy plucked that berry from dizzying heights. It had torn at his heart when he saw the young warrior offer it tenderly to his young woman centons later, much as Chameleon had done at one time. And as strange as it seemed, as he stood there now, the further away the young couple drew, the more bereft the old man felt . . . while he stood there cherishing memories of his one and only.

The End


End file.
